Malaysian Reds (including Avvy's lengthy match report!)
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Re: Malaysian Reds
Best way, Avvy. You know we're all pulling for you.
Best way, Avvy. You know we're all pulling for you.
Re: Malaysian Reds
Thanks, J and P
As promised.
FC Malaysia July 2011
This has easily been the most poignant game of all for me; mainly because in many ways this is the end of the road.
I started my journey as a Liverpool travelling fan in July 2009 in Singapore. It’s more or less come full circle, and things are completely different now.
Singapore was the beginning.
I went there with my wife, whom I'd just been married to for 6 months (even though we'd been together for 5 years in total) and whom I love more than anything..and we were looking forward to our time together in the UK, where I dreamt of attending matches in Anfield..the real thing. And I did. The year in the UK provided me with many incredible memories, so much so that when a friend asked me today ‘what’s Anfield like’..all I could do was stare at him. I’d wanted to find out the answer to that question practically my whole life, and now I should know the answer to that question. Shouldn’t I ?
I find myself still unsure as to what the answer is, despite having gone there nearly ten times.
Anfield has changed me in ways I still don’t understand, and can’t really explain. The sight of the pitch, the first time I saw Anfield looming in the distance (and mistook it for Goodison), the chill in the air when I passed the dark gloom of it’s shadow at 12.30 am on a cold wintry night, the sight of the steam of a fresh batch of chips and gravy, dodging the huge piles of dogshit whilst walking the Back Rockfield Road to the King Harry, to chugging ice-cold pints of Carling with numerous strangers who’d become strangely, friends, to the cold wind that bites you whilst walking the Albert Docks, the walk along St George Hall, where you can’t resist the immortal stance of Shankly, which is now frozen in time outside the LFC Store at Anfield.
All of that is Anfield, and none of it is Anfield.
‘What’s Anfield like?’
The funny truth of it is that I still don’t know; and I think I never will.
But whatever ‘it’ is, I know that I’ve been changed by it.
Anyway, fast forward 2 years.
Training session 14th July2011
I’m alone now, going for the training session of the game.
My wife isn’t with me, and may never be with me again. I’ve gained a year with one bird, but lost another one.
So the ticket I’ve got for the game on Saturday apparently gets me into the private training session today, so I thought, ok let’s see what it’s like. I’ve never been for a training session, maybe it’ll be an informal thingy where I might be able to wave at some players.
It wasn’t anything of the sort, it was a madhouse.
I’d forgotten how starved Malaysia had been for the Reds, who've never come here, and how we’ve been forced to endure the wave of Scum for 20 years, driving us into isolation and hiding. Especially every May when the Mancs have usually won something and are greedily seeking out Liverpool fans in which to gleefully rub their success in, knowing that the end of another football season has brought us yet another failure.
From conservative estimates it looked like about 20,000 fans attended the training session today, and we cheered the 9-a-side sessions like it was an FA Cup encounter. Although Ian Ayres has now come out and said there were nearly 40,000 fans there.
But more on that later.
The stadium is fairly close to my wife’s place (which is where I’m staying until I find a job and funds to move) so being my usual anal self I decide to be an early bird and get a cab to the stadium at about 4pm, thinking I’ll be one of the early smarties, bearing in mind the training session has no numbered seats and I’d better get there early to get better seats. Unfortunately 3 hours from the session there are already 1000 fans queuing up at the unopened turnstiles. I’m stunned. I figured there’d be a couple hundred fans in total. Holy shit.
There’s a tremendous buzz in the air, and there’s spontaneous songs and cheers in some pockets of fans. And in many ways I feel strange. Happiness, relief and guilt. A few years ago I’d have been one of them, a rabid, passionate fan trying to out-superfan the next one, to convince everyone what a ‘real’ fan they were. I used to be one of them too, but that was mainly because I always felt insecure being a foreign fan, and I always felt I had to prove I was a ‘real’ fan. Hell, lots still look at this trip as a junket aimed at shifting shirts and making money so real fans back home can get the 26 to the game.
And I really have no excuse because I’ve always known just how much these trips meant to the locals here, but I guess I’d forgotten.Thinking about how things have turned out sometimes make me feel a bit stupid telling people how lucky I’ve been.
But I have been lucky, very lucky. Going to Anfield has freed me of the need to justify my support for Liverpool to others, I no longer feel the need to drop in conversation with other fans that I’ve been a fan for 31 years. I’ve met people who’ve made feel I belong.
The most valuable LFC related merchandise I own is actually a picture on the wall of the King Harry. T-shirts, books,mugs…all these I can buy. When local fans give me a picture telling me what it’s been like to have me in their midst for a year? To feel I’ve earned my Red? I wouldn’t trade that in for it’s weight in fucking gold. (I couldn’t bring it with me though, the missus is going to ship that since my baggage was over the limit)
I regret that, in hindsight. The memories of the good times I had there do give some confort now, and it'd be nice to be able to look at it on the wall and remind myself that it was real and that I was there. I cannot tell you how strange it feels to be in these shoes now though. Strange, but fantastic.
So I meet my friend who comes at 4.30pm for my ticket (he’d bought them for me a month ago when I was still over in Blighty) and we queue up. We’re let in at about 6.20pm and it’s then I realised just how many people had turned up for this. Bukit Jalil Stadium has a capacity of about 85,000 or so, and it looked like a quarter was already full. I was gobsmacked. (as mentioned earlier it was proven to be nearly half, though it didnt really look it) The singing and chanting had already started, mainly because I was ensconced with my friend who was with a bunch of young lads calling themselves the Liverpool Ultras (I kid you not)..these youngsters were singing and chanting the famous songs, even a few ditties they’d made up themselves.
I also found out why they called themselves ‘Ultras’; about a hundred rows away on the second tier there was one nincompoop in a Scum shirt (why oh why do these CUNTS always do this)..anyway, this lot sees and they get really aggressive and they keep shouting ‘BUKA! BUKA! BUKA!’ which literally means ‘open’ but is used to mean ‘take it off’. This kind of behaviour is normal, and was seen in Singapore too… the difference being I was pretty convinced that if that person hadn’t complied, some of this lot would have given him a hand in flinging his shirt (together with him in it) off the tier.
The prick moved away to loud cheers.
So the singing continued and I just kept watching the streams of people coming in for essentially a little kickabout with footballers in bibs. The Malaysian team trains first and they get huge cheers; there’s a funny paradox here where Malaysian and Singaporeans will cheer and clap both their national sides and will often sing songs for both the national teams and Liverpool. I myself took part in some of the patriotic Malaysian songs, I couldn’t help myself.
My government practises extremely divisive ‘patriotic’ policies aimed at disuniting the people and setting different races against each other, which aids their corrupt practices. The people are however getting wise to this bullshit, and have become extremely patriotic in their own way.
I have to admit to feeling very impressed at the dedication and passion shown by these young boys (and a few girls); although I felt a bit saddened since I knew this passion was fuelled by deep-rooted feelings of insecurity. The encyclopaedic knowledge of some of these was fucking fantastic, by the way.
The sound system was dogshit, but we eventually realise from the huge cheers from the other side that our boys were coming in. Ian Ayres, Rushie and Thommo are there; and all three stepped out onto the pitch to wave at us and applaud. Then they realise that the 300 odd they were probably expecting had become 40,000 and they lap the stadium applauding and cheering as they’re walking. They also stop to sign a few shirts chucked into the running track by the BUCKETLOAD from all over.
Ian Ayres does a ‘we’re not worthy’ homage to us, which is pretty funny.
Then Claire Rourke is there (for LFC.tv probably) and she does a lap too with her camera, and she has a nice peachy bum, helped by the fact that her slacks were peach coloured.
The singing and chanting slows down once the training starts in earnest, though I’m not sure how much training was done when goals and misses alike drew loud cheers and lamentations. Andy Carroll really is a goofy ponytailed Labrador, and he seemed to love the attention, constantly playing up to the fans..it’s easy to see why he’s so popular.(start scoring goals, you 35 million big galoot!)
Thommo and Kenny are on the mike in the centre of the pitch, tho the sound system is so shit I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying. The tannoy music is also really annoying, since Liverpool fans make their own music. The whole thing is a lot of fun, though I still can’t believe how massive its starting to look.
Though I have to admit feeling that Liverpool have missed a trick.
Arsenal is already here, and Chelsea is coming next week. But neither of their teams is going to enjoy half the support we have, in fact Chelsea sales are so poor they’re resorted to giving them away in exchange for newspaper mastheads (something like x mastheads for a ticket) - Chelsea is on Thursday, as a matter of fact.
Unbelievable.
Anyway, Arsenal played Malaysia yesterday and was superb. They pretty much came with their whole first team and treated their fans to a real show. We on the other hand have come with a much weaker side. Both they and Chelsea have been making noises about coming here with their best players and giving their Asian fans a treat yadda yadda...this doesnt really faze Reds since we're well aware why most of our top players aren't here. Still, it does give those idiots room to yap.
Would be nice to really get a great performance. Well, something different from last night’s game against Guanzhou Santa Maria whatever anyway..That’s just my personal feeling, but it’s not going to change things much. Saturday is going to be fucking mental. The Singaporean Reds and the Indonesian BigReds are also all over the place, many of them must have flown in early since the game’s in 2 days.
The last time Bukit Jalil saw this kind of turnout was the Manc game 2 years ago, and we’re going to shit on that from a great height.
Thanks, J and P
As promised.
FC Malaysia July 2011
This has easily been the most poignant game of all for me; mainly because in many ways this is the end of the road.
I started my journey as a Liverpool travelling fan in July 2009 in Singapore. It’s more or less come full circle, and things are completely different now.
Singapore was the beginning.
I went there with my wife, whom I'd just been married to for 6 months (even though we'd been together for 5 years in total) and whom I love more than anything..and we were looking forward to our time together in the UK, where I dreamt of attending matches in Anfield..the real thing. And I did. The year in the UK provided me with many incredible memories, so much so that when a friend asked me today ‘what’s Anfield like’..all I could do was stare at him. I’d wanted to find out the answer to that question practically my whole life, and now I should know the answer to that question. Shouldn’t I ?
I find myself still unsure as to what the answer is, despite having gone there nearly ten times.
Anfield has changed me in ways I still don’t understand, and can’t really explain. The sight of the pitch, the first time I saw Anfield looming in the distance (and mistook it for Goodison), the chill in the air when I passed the dark gloom of it’s shadow at 12.30 am on a cold wintry night, the sight of the steam of a fresh batch of chips and gravy, dodging the huge piles of dogshit whilst walking the Back Rockfield Road to the King Harry, to chugging ice-cold pints of Carling with numerous strangers who’d become strangely, friends, to the cold wind that bites you whilst walking the Albert Docks, the walk along St George Hall, where you can’t resist the immortal stance of Shankly, which is now frozen in time outside the LFC Store at Anfield.
All of that is Anfield, and none of it is Anfield.
‘What’s Anfield like?’
The funny truth of it is that I still don’t know; and I think I never will.
But whatever ‘it’ is, I know that I’ve been changed by it.
Anyway, fast forward 2 years.
Training session 14th July2011
I’m alone now, going for the training session of the game.
My wife isn’t with me, and may never be with me again. I’ve gained a year with one bird, but lost another one.
So the ticket I’ve got for the game on Saturday apparently gets me into the private training session today, so I thought, ok let’s see what it’s like. I’ve never been for a training session, maybe it’ll be an informal thingy where I might be able to wave at some players.
It wasn’t anything of the sort, it was a madhouse.
I’d forgotten how starved Malaysia had been for the Reds, who've never come here, and how we’ve been forced to endure the wave of Scum for 20 years, driving us into isolation and hiding. Especially every May when the Mancs have usually won something and are greedily seeking out Liverpool fans in which to gleefully rub their success in, knowing that the end of another football season has brought us yet another failure.
From conservative estimates it looked like about 20,000 fans attended the training session today, and we cheered the 9-a-side sessions like it was an FA Cup encounter. Although Ian Ayres has now come out and said there were nearly 40,000 fans there.
But more on that later.
The stadium is fairly close to my wife’s place (which is where I’m staying until I find a job and funds to move) so being my usual anal self I decide to be an early bird and get a cab to the stadium at about 4pm, thinking I’ll be one of the early smarties, bearing in mind the training session has no numbered seats and I’d better get there early to get better seats. Unfortunately 3 hours from the session there are already 1000 fans queuing up at the unopened turnstiles. I’m stunned. I figured there’d be a couple hundred fans in total. Holy shit.
There’s a tremendous buzz in the air, and there’s spontaneous songs and cheers in some pockets of fans. And in many ways I feel strange. Happiness, relief and guilt. A few years ago I’d have been one of them, a rabid, passionate fan trying to out-superfan the next one, to convince everyone what a ‘real’ fan they were. I used to be one of them too, but that was mainly because I always felt insecure being a foreign fan, and I always felt I had to prove I was a ‘real’ fan. Hell, lots still look at this trip as a junket aimed at shifting shirts and making money so real fans back home can get the 26 to the game.
And I really have no excuse because I’ve always known just how much these trips meant to the locals here, but I guess I’d forgotten.Thinking about how things have turned out sometimes make me feel a bit stupid telling people how lucky I’ve been.
But I have been lucky, very lucky. Going to Anfield has freed me of the need to justify my support for Liverpool to others, I no longer feel the need to drop in conversation with other fans that I’ve been a fan for 31 years. I’ve met people who’ve made feel I belong.
The most valuable LFC related merchandise I own is actually a picture on the wall of the King Harry. T-shirts, books,mugs…all these I can buy. When local fans give me a picture telling me what it’s been like to have me in their midst for a year? To feel I’ve earned my Red? I wouldn’t trade that in for it’s weight in fucking gold. (I couldn’t bring it with me though, the missus is going to ship that since my baggage was over the limit)
I regret that, in hindsight. The memories of the good times I had there do give some confort now, and it'd be nice to be able to look at it on the wall and remind myself that it was real and that I was there. I cannot tell you how strange it feels to be in these shoes now though. Strange, but fantastic.
So I meet my friend who comes at 4.30pm for my ticket (he’d bought them for me a month ago when I was still over in Blighty) and we queue up. We’re let in at about 6.20pm and it’s then I realised just how many people had turned up for this. Bukit Jalil Stadium has a capacity of about 85,000 or so, and it looked like a quarter was already full. I was gobsmacked. (as mentioned earlier it was proven to be nearly half, though it didnt really look it) The singing and chanting had already started, mainly because I was ensconced with my friend who was with a bunch of young lads calling themselves the Liverpool Ultras (I kid you not)..these youngsters were singing and chanting the famous songs, even a few ditties they’d made up themselves.
I also found out why they called themselves ‘Ultras’; about a hundred rows away on the second tier there was one nincompoop in a Scum shirt (why oh why do these CUNTS always do this)..anyway, this lot sees and they get really aggressive and they keep shouting ‘BUKA! BUKA! BUKA!’ which literally means ‘open’ but is used to mean ‘take it off’. This kind of behaviour is normal, and was seen in Singapore too… the difference being I was pretty convinced that if that person hadn’t complied, some of this lot would have given him a hand in flinging his shirt (together with him in it) off the tier.
The prick moved away to loud cheers.
So the singing continued and I just kept watching the streams of people coming in for essentially a little kickabout with footballers in bibs. The Malaysian team trains first and they get huge cheers; there’s a funny paradox here where Malaysian and Singaporeans will cheer and clap both their national sides and will often sing songs for both the national teams and Liverpool. I myself took part in some of the patriotic Malaysian songs, I couldn’t help myself.
My government practises extremely divisive ‘patriotic’ policies aimed at disuniting the people and setting different races against each other, which aids their corrupt practices. The people are however getting wise to this bullshit, and have become extremely patriotic in their own way.
I have to admit to feeling very impressed at the dedication and passion shown by these young boys (and a few girls); although I felt a bit saddened since I knew this passion was fuelled by deep-rooted feelings of insecurity. The encyclopaedic knowledge of some of these was fucking fantastic, by the way.
The sound system was dogshit, but we eventually realise from the huge cheers from the other side that our boys were coming in. Ian Ayres, Rushie and Thommo are there; and all three stepped out onto the pitch to wave at us and applaud. Then they realise that the 300 odd they were probably expecting had become 40,000 and they lap the stadium applauding and cheering as they’re walking. They also stop to sign a few shirts chucked into the running track by the BUCKETLOAD from all over.
Ian Ayres does a ‘we’re not worthy’ homage to us, which is pretty funny.
Then Claire Rourke is there (for LFC.tv probably) and she does a lap too with her camera, and she has a nice peachy bum, helped by the fact that her slacks were peach coloured.
The singing and chanting slows down once the training starts in earnest, though I’m not sure how much training was done when goals and misses alike drew loud cheers and lamentations. Andy Carroll really is a goofy ponytailed Labrador, and he seemed to love the attention, constantly playing up to the fans..it’s easy to see why he’s so popular.(start scoring goals, you 35 million big galoot!)
Thommo and Kenny are on the mike in the centre of the pitch, tho the sound system is so shit I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying. The tannoy music is also really annoying, since Liverpool fans make their own music. The whole thing is a lot of fun, though I still can’t believe how massive its starting to look.
Though I have to admit feeling that Liverpool have missed a trick.
Arsenal is already here, and Chelsea is coming next week. But neither of their teams is going to enjoy half the support we have, in fact Chelsea sales are so poor they’re resorted to giving them away in exchange for newspaper mastheads (something like x mastheads for a ticket) - Chelsea is on Thursday, as a matter of fact.
Unbelievable.
Anyway, Arsenal played Malaysia yesterday and was superb. They pretty much came with their whole first team and treated their fans to a real show. We on the other hand have come with a much weaker side. Both they and Chelsea have been making noises about coming here with their best players and giving their Asian fans a treat yadda yadda...this doesnt really faze Reds since we're well aware why most of our top players aren't here. Still, it does give those idiots room to yap.
Would be nice to really get a great performance. Well, something different from last night’s game against Guanzhou Santa Maria whatever anyway..That’s just my personal feeling, but it’s not going to change things much. Saturday is going to be fucking mental. The Singaporean Reds and the Indonesian BigReds are also all over the place, many of them must have flown in early since the game’s in 2 days.
The last time Bukit Jalil saw this kind of turnout was the Manc game 2 years ago, and we’re going to shit on that from a great height.
Re: Malaysian Reds
Saturday 16th July 2011I’m back from the game.
As I expected, it was absolutely mental.
I just hoped the fans gave a good account of themselves, and well, I pretty much just hoped we matched the Mancs turnout 2 years ago. That one was pretty much a full turnout, maybe 85% capacity (and that’s being generous). I was in for a surprise. The stadium isn’t too far by cab from the wife’s flat (soon to be my former residence) so I cab it at about 1.30pm. That’s already being pretty anal by my standards since the game’s at 5.45pm. The cabbies all refuse to take me or are willing to only if I agree to pay extortionate charges, when I ask why it’s because the police are already starting to close the stadium arteries feeding the main roads. I’m pretty shocked by this, because this only happens when there’s a HUGE turnout expected.
Eventually I get an honest cabbie who takes me there and I confirm the roads are being closed, that means we’re going to see a big turnout. Even the helpful cabbie says ‘full house sir…Liverpool sure win 6-0 sir!!!!!!’
Well, he was half right.
I arrive at about 2.00pm and I’m gobsmacked.
The place is full of people, the match is 3 hours away and there are THOUSANDS there already, large numbers just patiently standing in front of the closed turnstiles. I later find out that some of them had been there since early that morning and were just standing there in the hot S**. I’m just so impressed. I walk around a bit and bump into fans proudly waving their flags and they’re from all over, Singapore (obviously), Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Phillippines, you name it…lots from the UK and the Oirish too, plus some other Europeans.
This was a lot like Singapore, but on a MUCH larger scale.
You could feel it in the air, there’d be a few strains of YNWA and a few others, some tone-deaf if not valiant attempts at Scouser Tommy, but you could just ‘feel’ something special was happening. Something that didn’t happen when the Mancs came.
Although in fairness, this was bound to happen when it’s a team with strong support like Liverpool but which has NEVER come to our shores, the closest being Singapore twice. Liverpool’s arrival for the first time ever was like the Second Coming to deliver us from the Pharisees ie the Mancs. And the Believers responded…oh HOW they responded…I’ve been lucky a few times last season, but I’ve always known I’d had to come back home and face the Scum and their jibes of ‘19’…and now we could show ourselves proudly once again.
We may have been a force in hiding, and we may have been buffeted by the Scum hordes over the past 2 decades. But we remain strong, resolute and defiant.
Yes, tomorrow you can jeer at us not being in Europe, you can jeer at us for buying average players at huge sums….but today…TODAY…in THE STADIUM…we are better, and bigger, and stronger than you Mancs will EVER be. And don’t you forget it. It’s these reminders of how strong the bond is between the club and its fans that makes those comments easier to take…anyway, the fans are streaming in from all over and pretty soon the chanting starts at some of the turnstiles…eventually the stadium authorities relents and lets the fans stream in slowly after 2.45pm, which is still 3 hours from game time.
(Reuque : this was why it seemed that the Mancs filled the stadium faster; it’s because they were let in later. The pressure on the turnstiles was much stronger for us and I think they wisely realised that if they didn’t let us in early they’d end up having to either postpone the game or make very dangerous decisions much later)
Kudos to them for making the right decision.
What we’d have given for some similar intelligence in Sheffield all those years ago.
Unfortunately I couldn’t join my Red brothers and sisters in the stadium so early.
Some of you may remember I had a banner? The same one I made for my friend who died before the Singapore game.
Well, I had to pass the banner to some friends to fly from where they were sitting, they had Grandstand seats (no shit) whilst I had a cheapo seat…and they came late..so late in fact that by the time I went in later I was on the third tier up in the clouds. Had those muppets come any later I’d have probably been on the roof. Though I don't mind so much. From my height, the view of the crowd was even more amazing.
(Q : another reason why the singing was less was because there were about 4 or 5 mass impromptu renditions of YNWA whilst the announcers were testing the sound system.. and they were LOUD…)
It was a joy to behold…even though I was outside wistfully wishing I was with them..i was a tad annoyed, but to be honest id already received so many blessings with regards watching our boys, and I couldn’t really complain.
They finally arrive, I pass the banner and I rush in.
It’s then I see the Red Storm. A heaving mass of Red, and it’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I just stare at it for a while. I’d seen that in Singapore,of course…but this was just massive. Banners and flags everywhere, some classy…some not so much. Though I liked the ‘Rooney is a dumbass’ one especially after the granny-shagger’s comments about the Manc fan (and I hope he got his teeth kicked in).
The best banner was the one that said 'Build the stadium here'.
Not many songs, to be honest...but the buzz and the noise was incredible..I think any songs would have been very difficult to hear.
Anyway, the hunger had been satisfied, and our team, OUR TEAM…was here..we were twice blessed in that both teams were our teams haha.. The match starts, and we have some good moments but we’re pretty sluggish…to be honest, we’ve played worse…though Andy Carroll at the moment does seem to be more pub landlord than Premier League footballer. Still, he’s shown he’s a good player before and hopefully will justify the faith shown.
To be honest, the cliché of the game of two halves was very accurate. Rubbish in the first half, much better in the second.
My MOTM wasn’t actually Aquilani, though he was good.. mine’s Kuyt, it was his inclusion which really changed things on the right flank..he had to do a lot of covering though, and was tracking back a lot to help out (Robinson? Was it) There were a lot of flaws and weaknesses in the team, and it was that which allowed the Malaysians to keep trying, and they did nearly get their reward.
In any event, the game was always just a side-show..it was the chance given to tens of thousands to see their team in the flesh, and for hundreds of thousands more at home,,cheerfully knowing that their team had finally arrived and that Liverpool would come again.
I bang on about this a lot; yes, the club often looks at this as some promotional junket and publicity photo-op..and it is all of those things.
But many don’t realise how much a trip like this means to millions of fans who aren’t as lucky as some others (myself included).
I’ve been lucky enough to get to Anfield, but it hasn’t been that long ago that I was just as desperate to get some little snippet of closeness, some sort of recognition that I too was a fan, to get some sort of bond with the club. This was why I bought the shirts and merchandise when I was here. They helped fill the void, in a small sense. Now I look at my closet and think ‘jeez, why do I have so many shirts’. I'd forgotten what it was like before my trip...and seeing the dedication and extent some of these fans have gone to in order to share some small part of their team was in fact a humbling experience, and a powerful reminder for me that these fans were me and I was them.
I’ve had to take 12 hour train trips to get to and return from games, but I’ve never stood in front of a turnstile under a baking S** for 7 hours waiting for it to open. I’ve never stood in a shopping mall for 8 hours waiting to get Joe Cole’s autograph. So although many may scoff at the profit centres that constitute foreign fans, I choose to salute my Red brethren, wherever they may be.
Anyway, the game ends…and we’re all waiting for Gerry..i’m personally hoping for it to be so loud the roof shakes. That doesn’t happen, but it’s strong and loud and the echoes wash over the stadium like a storm surge, a Red Storm surge.
It’s finally over, and I take forever to get out because its so crowded..Thankfully my friends feel so bad about making me wait so long for them that they insist on bringing me for a slap-up meal with good whisky, and THAT as anyone would agree, was a good way to end the night.
So I guess that counts as drinkies? I know where I’d rather be drinking though.
The King Harry seems very far away now.
Of course, the 2 Mancs in the group paid a back-handed compliment saying that it was ‘as packed as the United game’..I just gave them a cynical smile..
Go on, keep saying it...someday you might even convince yourself.
Er, no it wasn’t, and you know it. Remember tonight the next time you brag about how your precious team is the ‘biggest net worth sports team in the world’.
You’ll never have our fans.
I hope our lads come back soon, or rather, I hope MY TEAM comes back soon.
Though we’re going to need a bigger stadium next time.
Saturday 16th July 2011I’m back from the game.
As I expected, it was absolutely mental.
I just hoped the fans gave a good account of themselves, and well, I pretty much just hoped we matched the Mancs turnout 2 years ago. That one was pretty much a full turnout, maybe 85% capacity (and that’s being generous). I was in for a surprise. The stadium isn’t too far by cab from the wife’s flat (soon to be my former residence) so I cab it at about 1.30pm. That’s already being pretty anal by my standards since the game’s at 5.45pm. The cabbies all refuse to take me or are willing to only if I agree to pay extortionate charges, when I ask why it’s because the police are already starting to close the stadium arteries feeding the main roads. I’m pretty shocked by this, because this only happens when there’s a HUGE turnout expected.
Eventually I get an honest cabbie who takes me there and I confirm the roads are being closed, that means we’re going to see a big turnout. Even the helpful cabbie says ‘full house sir…Liverpool sure win 6-0 sir!!!!!!’
Well, he was half right.
I arrive at about 2.00pm and I’m gobsmacked.
The place is full of people, the match is 3 hours away and there are THOUSANDS there already, large numbers just patiently standing in front of the closed turnstiles. I later find out that some of them had been there since early that morning and were just standing there in the hot S**. I’m just so impressed. I walk around a bit and bump into fans proudly waving their flags and they’re from all over, Singapore (obviously), Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Phillippines, you name it…lots from the UK and the Oirish too, plus some other Europeans.
This was a lot like Singapore, but on a MUCH larger scale.
You could feel it in the air, there’d be a few strains of YNWA and a few others, some tone-deaf if not valiant attempts at Scouser Tommy, but you could just ‘feel’ something special was happening. Something that didn’t happen when the Mancs came.
Although in fairness, this was bound to happen when it’s a team with strong support like Liverpool but which has NEVER come to our shores, the closest being Singapore twice. Liverpool’s arrival for the first time ever was like the Second Coming to deliver us from the Pharisees ie the Mancs. And the Believers responded…oh HOW they responded…I’ve been lucky a few times last season, but I’ve always known I’d had to come back home and face the Scum and their jibes of ‘19’…and now we could show ourselves proudly once again.
We may have been a force in hiding, and we may have been buffeted by the Scum hordes over the past 2 decades. But we remain strong, resolute and defiant.
Yes, tomorrow you can jeer at us not being in Europe, you can jeer at us for buying average players at huge sums….but today…TODAY…in THE STADIUM…we are better, and bigger, and stronger than you Mancs will EVER be. And don’t you forget it. It’s these reminders of how strong the bond is between the club and its fans that makes those comments easier to take…anyway, the fans are streaming in from all over and pretty soon the chanting starts at some of the turnstiles…eventually the stadium authorities relents and lets the fans stream in slowly after 2.45pm, which is still 3 hours from game time.
(Reuque : this was why it seemed that the Mancs filled the stadium faster; it’s because they were let in later. The pressure on the turnstiles was much stronger for us and I think they wisely realised that if they didn’t let us in early they’d end up having to either postpone the game or make very dangerous decisions much later)
Kudos to them for making the right decision.
What we’d have given for some similar intelligence in Sheffield all those years ago.
Unfortunately I couldn’t join my Red brothers and sisters in the stadium so early.
Some of you may remember I had a banner? The same one I made for my friend who died before the Singapore game.
Well, I had to pass the banner to some friends to fly from where they were sitting, they had Grandstand seats (no shit) whilst I had a cheapo seat…and they came late..so late in fact that by the time I went in later I was on the third tier up in the clouds. Had those muppets come any later I’d have probably been on the roof. Though I don't mind so much. From my height, the view of the crowd was even more amazing.
(Q : another reason why the singing was less was because there were about 4 or 5 mass impromptu renditions of YNWA whilst the announcers were testing the sound system.. and they were LOUD…)
It was a joy to behold…even though I was outside wistfully wishing I was with them..i was a tad annoyed, but to be honest id already received so many blessings with regards watching our boys, and I couldn’t really complain.
They finally arrive, I pass the banner and I rush in.
It’s then I see the Red Storm. A heaving mass of Red, and it’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I just stare at it for a while. I’d seen that in Singapore,of course…but this was just massive. Banners and flags everywhere, some classy…some not so much. Though I liked the ‘Rooney is a dumbass’ one especially after the granny-shagger’s comments about the Manc fan (and I hope he got his teeth kicked in).
The best banner was the one that said 'Build the stadium here'.
Not many songs, to be honest...but the buzz and the noise was incredible..I think any songs would have been very difficult to hear.
Anyway, the hunger had been satisfied, and our team, OUR TEAM…was here..we were twice blessed in that both teams were our teams haha.. The match starts, and we have some good moments but we’re pretty sluggish…to be honest, we’ve played worse…though Andy Carroll at the moment does seem to be more pub landlord than Premier League footballer. Still, he’s shown he’s a good player before and hopefully will justify the faith shown.
To be honest, the cliché of the game of two halves was very accurate. Rubbish in the first half, much better in the second.
My MOTM wasn’t actually Aquilani, though he was good.. mine’s Kuyt, it was his inclusion which really changed things on the right flank..he had to do a lot of covering though, and was tracking back a lot to help out (Robinson? Was it) There were a lot of flaws and weaknesses in the team, and it was that which allowed the Malaysians to keep trying, and they did nearly get their reward.
In any event, the game was always just a side-show..it was the chance given to tens of thousands to see their team in the flesh, and for hundreds of thousands more at home,,cheerfully knowing that their team had finally arrived and that Liverpool would come again.
I bang on about this a lot; yes, the club often looks at this as some promotional junket and publicity photo-op..and it is all of those things.
But many don’t realise how much a trip like this means to millions of fans who aren’t as lucky as some others (myself included).
I’ve been lucky enough to get to Anfield, but it hasn’t been that long ago that I was just as desperate to get some little snippet of closeness, some sort of recognition that I too was a fan, to get some sort of bond with the club. This was why I bought the shirts and merchandise when I was here. They helped fill the void, in a small sense. Now I look at my closet and think ‘jeez, why do I have so many shirts’. I'd forgotten what it was like before my trip...and seeing the dedication and extent some of these fans have gone to in order to share some small part of their team was in fact a humbling experience, and a powerful reminder for me that these fans were me and I was them.
I’ve had to take 12 hour train trips to get to and return from games, but I’ve never stood in front of a turnstile under a baking S** for 7 hours waiting for it to open. I’ve never stood in a shopping mall for 8 hours waiting to get Joe Cole’s autograph. So although many may scoff at the profit centres that constitute foreign fans, I choose to salute my Red brethren, wherever they may be.
Anyway, the game ends…and we’re all waiting for Gerry..i’m personally hoping for it to be so loud the roof shakes. That doesn’t happen, but it’s strong and loud and the echoes wash over the stadium like a storm surge, a Red Storm surge.
It’s finally over, and I take forever to get out because its so crowded..Thankfully my friends feel so bad about making me wait so long for them that they insist on bringing me for a slap-up meal with good whisky, and THAT as anyone would agree, was a good way to end the night.
So I guess that counts as drinkies? I know where I’d rather be drinking though.
The King Harry seems very far away now.
Of course, the 2 Mancs in the group paid a back-handed compliment saying that it was ‘as packed as the United game’..I just gave them a cynical smile..
Go on, keep saying it...someday you might even convince yourself.
Er, no it wasn’t, and you know it. Remember tonight the next time you brag about how your precious team is the ‘biggest net worth sports team in the world’.
You’ll never have our fans.
I hope our lads come back soon, or rather, I hope MY TEAM comes back soon.
Though we’re going to need a bigger stadium next time.
R
RedZeppelin
Guest
Guys , are chelsea playing in malaysia today ? if so just wondering what the reaction to them is like . Are they as well received as we are ? did they sell out also ?
Yup,the game's going on as we speak. I passed the stadium and there were a good number of cars,bit there's no chance the turnout is anywhere near ours.Chelsea has attracted a fair number of glorythunters over the past few years,but its still pretty insignificant.
Each team had training sessions before theoir matches.Arse had 13000, Chelsea had about 10000, we had 38000.
Each team had training sessions before theoir matches.Arse had 13000, Chelsea had about 10000, we had 38000.
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